Chewbacca #1

Chewbacca #1

Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover Artist: Phil Noto

Chewbacca #1 has a crawl worth quoting.

It is a period of renewed hope for the rebellion.

The evil galactic Empire’s greatest weapon, the Death Star, has been destroyed by CHEWBACCA, warrior son of the planet KASHYYYK…with some help from his trusty sidekick Han and his friends Luke and Leia. But Chewie is not one to grandstand. There is still much to accomplish.

The Battle of Yavin reverberates through the galaxy as our WOOKIEE hero embarks on a very important and personal secret mission. Unfortunately for Chewbacca, his loaner spacecraft proves to be what they refer to in this Outer Rim as a “hunk of junk”….

With an intro like that, it sets the stage for a lighthearted and possibly humorous story. To an extent, Chewbacca #1 delivers on both counts.

The issue opens with a girl named Zarro and her father Arrax squabbling with a local crime lord named Jaum. Defaulting on their loan, Jaum puts both of them into slavery in his mines. Zarro manages to escape and runs into Chewbacca who she convinces to help save her dad. The issue closes with Jaum revealing he has his slaves mining dedlanite for the Empire.

The humor is mostly snuck in with Chewie and his inability to communicate with Zarro. Unlike Han, she has no clue what the Wookiee is saying. It was also kind of funny seeing Chewie just chilling in a field of flowers. Again, there wasn’t a ton of humor, but the issue is mostly lighthearted and seems more kid friendly than the other Star Wars series we’ve seen from Marvel.

The artwork isn’t bad. There’s a nice amount of detail, a unique quality to the line work and coloring, and they do a good job of making the characters look consistent. There’s some odd visual effects done to create depth by blurring figures who are “close to the viewer” that doesn’t work perfectly, but overall it looks really nice. The character’s are very expressive, and the coloring adds a neat texture to the panels. Note: if you’re wondering what the aurebesh on Zarro’s shirt says, it’s “trouble.”

As a fun start to the series, I give Chewbacca #1 a four out of five metal bikinis. It’s not amazingly great, but it’s fun and enjoyable. I’m interested to see where this series will go as the writer and artists begin to gel and flex their creative powers. If the art stays on track and the story kicks up a notch, this series has some serious potential.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.